Did you try the paid data? The free one missed most the trees, but the $2 map showed all the trees in my nearby park. Really impressive.

So - how do I know if the paid version is accurate if the free version is inaccurate? It shows me a sample of some place I don't know so it's impossible to evaluate.

They should offer some other way to trial the full version.

$2 is how.

The sample convinced me. $2 is a really small investment.

Nice! Last time I found something like this was a 15$/mo yearly subscription, which was clearly targeted at real state agents, and didn't make any sense for a one time check... Luckily they just believed the system clock, so at least I could check over the year by changing the computer time

Edit: looks like they already show side-by-side samples, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40535186.

They could probably have a side-by-side comparison of somewhere famous like Central Park (I'm from UK, fwiw) showing the free vs paid data to give an idea of what one might get; I guess it varies by location how much detail is mapped though, and how recently.

The ‘try a sample’ link in the upgrade flow drops you into Central Park West with the full data.

A few months ago I paired for the tree data to figure out the best place on our property to place some planter beds.

I’m very happy with the results. It confirmed my guess that a specific section gets more light over the year even though there is a bit more shade in the mornings until late spring.

Can you share screenshots of both side by side? (perhaps of some area not your backyard if you don't want to reveal where that is?)

If you click on the premium version, it will show a sample of a chosen area to show you how much more detail (esp re: trees) will be available. Even that was kinda worse than what I got.

For me it only increases the resolution, but not the correctness. The shadows have more detail, but are still wrong.